FIG. 1 depicts telecommunications system 100 that comprises telecommunications terminals 105-j (e.g., a wireless telephone, a laptop computer with softphone capability, etc.), for j=1 to 2, and network 120 (e.g., the Public Switched Telephone Network [PSTN], a cellular wireless network, a wireless local-area network, etc.) in the prior art. Telecommunications terminal 105-j is capable of receiving messages (e.g., incoming voice call notifications, email messages, Short Message Service [SMS] messages, Multimedia Message Service [MMS] messages, Instant Messaging [IM] messages, etc.) that originate from other telecommunications terminals via network 120.
When telecommunications terminal 105-j receives a message, it notifies its user of the message's arrival—or of the associated incoming call if one is occurring—by playing a “ringtone” (e.g., a tune, a series of beeps, etc.) via speaker 110-j; by displaying visual information (e.g., text, an image, etc.) via display 111-j (if present); or by vibrating the terminal via vibration mechanism 112-j (if present), alone or in combination. Telecommunications terminal 105-j might play a particular ringtone for all incoming messages, or a ringtone that is associated with a category of callers (e.g., a ringtone for business contacts, a ringtone for friends, a ringtone for family members, etc.), or a ringtone that is associated with an individual caller, etc. Similarly, telecommunications terminals 105-1 and 105-2 might display a text message (e.g., “Incoming Call”, “Incoming Call: Mom”, “Incoming Call: 212-555-1234”, etc.) or an image (e.g., an animated icon of a ringing telephone, a photo of the caller, etc.), or both, to indicate that there is an incoming message.